


Kitten in Love

by Aeriel



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 02:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeriel/pseuds/Aeriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Morgan loses his heart and many feelings are expressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kitten in Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abluestocking](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abluestocking/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this late treat, abluestocking!

It was an autumn evening in Ingary, and Morgan was in love again.   
  
Her name was Penny, and she had unkempt yellow hair that blossomed around her face like petals on a flower (Morgan made a note to write that down). She was the daughter of a Kingsbury shoemaker, and she had the loveliest smile that came out often from behind the cashier's counter. But she tended to daydream, and often apologized for not realizing that a customer was impatiently standing in front of her waiting to be rung up.  
  
All this Morgan had observed this morning when he went looking for a new pair of shoes, having worn out the old pair racing his younger cousins up and down the Folding Valley (Lucas and Daniel mostly, though Lisette snuck out when she could to get into scrapes with the boys). And though it was not the first time a girl had caught his eye and made his heart pound, this time, he was sure, it was the real thing.  
  
So of course, it had to be kept absolutely secret from his parents.   
  
Morgan loved his mum and dad. He loved them even more than he loved his aunts and uncles and many, many cousins, though perhaps not more than he loved Calcifer. But adolescent love affairs (as his father termed them) were an uncomfortable topic in the moving castle. When he told his Mum he was in love (that time with a Market Chipping girl called Susan who had straight red hair and was always surrounded by friends), she had patted him on the head and said, "Oh, Morgan. That's sweet, but you've never met her. Just wait, and I'm sure you'll forget all about it."  
  
Howl was of the opposite view. "Son, I'm ashamed of you. Half the girls in Ingary have never heard the glorious name of Morgan Pendragon! Whatever are you doing with your days if not finding young women to spend them with?"  
  
Neither one believed him! Dad thought he was leading girls on, and Mum thought he was simply infatuated which to be fair had been the case in the past, but not this time! In truth, Morgan had always been too shy to talk to the objects of his adoration. He always decided that this time, this time would be different. He would actually speak to her this time. It didn't have to be 'I love you', it could just be 'I like your dress' or 'Lovely weather we're having'.   
  
This time, it really _would_ be different. He would make himself speak to her.   
  
Which was how Morgan came to be loitering in the street behind the Kingsbury shoemaker's, hoping Penny would come outside.   
  
He saw her face through the display window, tight-lipped and sad as her father lectured her. Morgan couldn't hear the words, but he could imagine what they might be. Lazy, shiftless, dreamy-eyed, thoughtless, careless! All names he had been called by his relations at various times. Morgan saw a vision of Penny in his arms, crying on his shoulder as he told her how much he understood. This was going to work!  
  
Once the lecture was over, Penny started towards the display case, and her eyes went wide as she caught sight of Morgan watching her. For his part, Morgan was so startled to have been seen that he accidentally turned himself invisible.   
  
"This is a fine mess," the air where Morgan had been said ruefully. "I suppose it's off to Aunt Lettie's to see if she can fix me before I go home."  
  
With a long-suffering sigh, Morgan made his way to the house of the Wizard Suliman, otherwise known as Uncle Ben and Aunt Lettie's.  
  
"You must have wanted very hard to be invisible to cast such a strong spell," Aunt Lettie said suspiciously, once it had been taken off. "Morgan, you weren't doing something naughty, were you?"  
  
"No!" Morgan said defensively. But seeing as Lettie was now convinced he was a thief or some other disreputable thing, his shoulders slumped. "Promise you won't tell Mum."  
  
Lettie looked hesitant, but finally nodded.  
  
"I was waiting to see a girl I met this morning," Morgan mumbled.   
  
"A girl?" Lettie laughed. "Oh, darling, is that all? And you embarrassed yourself? No wonder you turned yourself invisible!"  
  
Morgan scratched the back of his neck and waited for her to stop laughing. No one seemed to think love was as funny as married people. Except Mum, that was. If he didn't know for a fact Mum loved Dad, he would think she was against all young lovers on principle.   
  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. But I remember, when I was younger- well, you won't want to hear about it."  
  
"Did you have many suitors, Aunt Lettie?" Morgan asked, suddenly fascinated. He knew his aunt was beautiful, but she was, well, his aunt. He had never thought of her as being a girl that someone might have seen and written love letters to, never meaning to send them.   
  
"Altogether too many," Lettie said fondly. "But it's getting late- don't let Sophie catch you late for supper!"  
  
Morgan shuddered. Mum was an absolute tyrant about mealtimes. "Say hello to Eliza, Evan and Uncle Ben for me!"  
  
As it was, he was so busy writing a poem in his head to the loveliness of Penny's surprise and trying not to think about what Penny might be thinking of him that Morgan got horribly lost on the way home. When he finally reached the Kingsbury door, it was twenty minutes past. Dreading Mum's reaction, Morgan crept inside.   
  
"And so he shows his face?" observed Mum from the fireplace, arms crossed.   
  
"Sophie, light of my life, he's only fifteen," Dad pleaded. "Be merciful."  
  
"Be merciful, Mum!" Morgan cried out, throwing his arms up to protect his face.   
  
"You're all ridiculous," said Calcifer. "You've spoiled that boy so badly, a little punishment now and then wouldn't hurt him."  
  
"Are you volunteering to take my son over the knee instead, Calcifer?" Mum said dryly.   
  
"Haven't got one. Know you won't anyway."  
  
Mum's eyes softened, and she let her arms fall to the side. "Well, are you going to sit down?"  
  
Quickly scooting to his chair, Morgan began stuffing his face at once so no one would ask him questions. Naturally, this had the opposite effect.   
  
"Morgan, you had better not have been hassling girls," Mum said fiercely.   
  
"Let him eat," Dad said soothingly. "The population of Kingsbury is safe, I'm sure. No one's been eating any bits of girl lately, isn't that right, Morgan?"  
  
Morgan nodded emphatically, his mouth full of steak.   
  
Surprisingly, Mum turned pink. "I thought we agreed never to bring that up again."  
  
"Providing you let our son discover the ups and downs of romance undisturbed," Dad replied, smooth as silk. "He's yours too, you know."  
  
Though mystified, Morgan found himself deeply grateful to his Dad, and slunk into his room (after helping with the washing, of course) to write about Penny.   
  
He was too embarrassed to so much as walk down the street of the shoemaker's for the next two days, and spent most of the time in between his lessons at his Aunt Martha and Uncle Michael's, playing with the younger children. Out of all his cousins, only Evan Sullivan was the same age as him, but Evan didn't like girls at all, and hated to hear Morgan go on about them, so around age eleven they had begun spending less time together. On the other hand, some of the younger girl cousins were terribly interested in Morgan's poetry and quite liked to hear about the older girls, and the younger boys didn't mind as much.   
  
So when there was a pounding on the castle door, Morgan naturally assumed it might be one of his cousins coming to play.  
  
"Kingsbury door!" called Calcifer.  
  
Morgan paused. Evan never came to visit anymore. Perhaps it was Eliza, who loved spending time in the flower shop.   
  
But when he opened the door, it was none other than that vision of sunshine, his own dear love, Penny, standing with her arms crossed in a way that reminded Morgan uncomfortably of his Mum.   
  
"What do you mean by disappearing in front of our store and then never coming back?" she demanded.   
  
"I-I-I didn't mean to disappear," Morgan managed. "It was an accident."  
  
"How do you disappear by accident?" Some of the anger had ebbed out of her voice, replaced by curiosity.  
  
"I-I-I sometimes do things instinctively," Morgan tried to explain. "I mean, I am a wizard. In training."  
  
Penny frowned, seemingly unimpressed. "Were you waiting outside to steal from us?"  
  
"No!" Why did everyone think he was a thief lately? "I was… well, I was waiting for you."  
  
Penny blushed. "You're just saying that."  
  
"No, I swear!" Morgan cried out. "You've no idea how much I've been wanting to talk to you. But I didn't want to bother you at work, and afterwards you were being lectured, and when you saw me I just sort of- lost my nerve."  
  
"Oh." She was looking at her feet now, playing with her skirt. "Well, I have off on Fridays. Do you want to go out sometime?"  
  
"Yes!" Impulsively, Morgan grabbed her hands. "I mean, yes. Please."  
  
Penny smiled, and Morgan's heart fluttered in his chest. "You had better take us someplace wizardly."  
  
"I promise," he agreed fervently.   
  
For the next hour, fireworks exploded over the moving castle, as Calcifer shuddered in his hearth.   
  
"Morgan," his mum said wearily. "Is that absolutely necessary?"  
  
"Can't help it, Mum," Morgan said innocently.   
  
"Sophie," said his father, "some days I forget you're not an old woman already."  
  
"Morgan," Mum said, ignoring Dad completely, "be careful. And whatever you do, I want you to know we're always here, and we love you."  
  
"I know that, Mum," Morgan said impatiently.   
  
"Don't snap at your mother," Dad interjected. "What she means is, it's all right to make mistakes, because between the two of us, your mother and I can fix anything."  
  
"Except," Mum said quietly, "a broken heart."  
  
At that, Dad stood and put his arms around Mum. At this uncharacteristic public display of affection, both Morgan and Calcifer blinked and leaned forward.   
  
"You can't protect him forever, you know," Dad said softly.  
  
"And I don't want you to!" Morgan said loudly. "Let me make mistakes! Let me fall on my face, so I'll know for myself what not to do next time."  
  
"I told you he was your son, too," Dad said, a note of pride in his voice nonetheless.   
  
"That's right," Morgan said, rounding on his father. "And I'm not you when you were younger. I'm not going to go after every pretty girl I see just for the fun of it."  
  
"Yes, he's only going after the ones he can write the worst possible poetry about," Calcifer interjected.  
  
Mum covered her mouth, Morgan suspected to hold in a laugh. Dad grinned madly. "Poetry, eh?"  
  
"Calcifer!" Morgan hissed, cheeks heating up.   
  
"I only promised to keep quiet as long as it was amusing," Calcifer said innocently. "It just so happens that your time has run out." And then, to Morgan's horror, he began to recite, " _Oh, Penelope, goddess of the golden sun, never let your hair be tamed nor your spirit_ -"  
  
"I think that's quite enough of that," Mum said, smiling.   
  
"That's some of his best work, too," Calcifer added.   
  
"Penelope?" Dad asked.  
  
"It sounded better than just Penny," Morgan admitted.   
  
"Chip off the old block," Dad said fondly.   
  
"I hate you all," Morgan declared, stomping off to his room.   
  
As soon as his son was gone, Howl sidled up to his wife. "So, do you think it's about time we had another one?"


End file.
